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Sunday, 14 September 2014

After an interminably tedious
International break, where two years worth of tortuous European qualifiers
appear designed merely to eliminate the mighty footballing powers such as
Gibraltar, Andorra, Luxembourg and the like, it was marvelous to find myself strolling
around to the Man City game on Saturday, positively bristling with
anticipation, at the prospect of witnessing the potential of this season’s
Arsenal squad.

With Danny Welbeck’s arrival on
deadline day in such debatable circumstances, while le Prof was playing
peacemaker for the pontiff in Rome, when the majority of Wenger’s peers were
seemingly pulling what remains of their hair out, in their efforts to squeeze a
signing or two through the door before the transfer window slams shut, this
weekend’s game was akin to Christmas morning.

Thousands of eager kiddies rushing
down to the glamorous environs of the Arsenal to unwrap our new pressie and
discover whether we’ve been gifted the footballing equivalent of a lush new
gaming console, praying that le Gaffer wasn’t instead left picking up the last
battered striker toy box on the shelves of Woolies (if Woolworths was still in
existence!).

While at the same time hoping not to
have to endure the Xmas Day equivalent of being told “you’ll have to wait until
after lunch to open your gifts”. Most excitingly, we found that an unusually
generous Father Arsène had left all our Gooner goodies under the tree, in
Saturday’s swank starting XI.

Welbeck’s brace against the Swiss
gave us plenty of cause for optimism and he was only the width of the post away
from producing the perfect start to his Arsenal career against City. His
similar price-tag to Balotelli (albeit perhaps with widely different wage
demands?) resulted in much deliberation. While I previously suspected that
opposition defenders might find the Italian striker more psychologically and
physically intimidating, their contrasting work-ethic was evident from this
weekend’s displays and Balotelli’s apparently limited overall contribution
brooks no comparison with Welbeck’s selfless graft.

It would’ve been great if we could’ve
managed to put one over on Man City, in the absence of Yaya Toure. Lampard is a
wily and seemingly fortuitous (!!)addition to Pellegrini’s squad. He and his
colleagues were able to stifle us from gaining momentum, with all the niggling
(and more blatant!) midfield fouls that broke up our flowing attacks and at the
same time, saved his 36-year old legs. But Frank no longer has the energy for
his trademark box-to-box efforts and City were deprived of Toure's driving
runs.

However, Alexis couldn’t have
returned any earlier than Thurs, from his no less arduous midweek exploits for
Chile v Haiti in Miami at 1am on Weds. I sincerely hope we don’t end up paying
a hefty price, with a lactic-acid levy in Dortmund tomorrow night, but instead
of sitting out Saturday’s game, Sanchez impressed yet again with his tireless
industry. It was ironic that it was Alexis’ mazy (one man too many!) assault on
City’s goal that resulted in the counter-attack, which led to the Sky Blues
taking the lead.

From where we sit on the opposite
side, it felt as if the Gunners had made the unforgiveable mistake of assuming
that the ball was going into touch. Between them, Navas and Aguero made us pay
a hefty price for this seemingly indolent presumption. City’s goal knocked all
the stuffing out of us, just as we’d begun to acquire the sort of swagger
that’s been so sorely lacking in top four clashes of late.

Mercifully Wilshere soon repaired the
dent in our confidence with his wonderful equalizer. The chutzpah he
demonstrated in selling Clichy a dummy, along with the composure necessary to
wait for Hart to commit, before clipping the ball over the keeper with his
wrong foot, from such a tight-angle, suggests Jack remains entirely unaffected
by all the recent criticism.

Yet where we’ve grown accustomed to
the sight of Wilshere sitting on his backside, pleading for restitution, I
cannot repeat too often quite how refreshing it is to witness the unflinching
determination Sanchez shows, in riding the incessant efforts to thwart his
unstinting passion to impose himself.

In one of Özil’s more inept
performances to date, the ensuing castigation of our most expensive star wasn’t
exactly surprising. Especially when the impressive work-rate of his team mates
only highlights Mezut’s languid style and when we are subsequently left
enviously watching Fabregas doing exactly the sort of slicing and dicing for
Mourinho that’s expected from our man. I can only assume it’s some sort of personal
vendetta that’s resulted in the apparent ricket of presenting the title
favourites with their principal midfield string puller!

Whether
or not Welbeck can do for us what Costa is doing for Chelsea, remains to be
seen but with Walcott fast on the mend, I would love to see Mezut prompting all
this pace from the middle of the park. Although the gossamer thin depth of the
squad, as far as the Gunners’ defensive cover is concerned, remains a massive
concern, should the enthralling array of attacking facets in our armoury, begin
to fall into place, this holds the promise of a scintillating assault on the
Premiership promised land.

To stop the gunners passing game hack the player who has the ball. Wenger is too naïve to know the gunners need time and space.Once they don't have these,they are there for the taking.That's why he will continue to lose the big games. He was lucky not to lose against MC.

Free flowing my arse, Arsenal have been ordinary for nearly a decade yet they still have the beautiful game reputation. They're light years behind City in every way hence why they've become their feeder club.